observations on life, faith and leadership

Serious Truth from a Funny Guy

Last week my wife set the DVR to record the final episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O’brien. I watched primarily because I wanted to see O’brien rip the NBC execs. Which he did (at first), but later in the show he turned serious and thanked NBC for the opportunity they gave him. He also spoke of his blessings and how he leaves the network with no regrets. Then he had these profound words for his viewers…

…all I ask is one thing. And I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch. Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen…

There’s a lot of truth in those words and we’d all do well to heed his advice. I can to be bit cynical myself. I think many of us Gen Xers struggle with it. We’re cynical about the news, government, church, you name it. It’s one of our self-proctection mechanisms. But Conan is right. It doesn’t get you anywhere. Cynics rarely succeed in life. That’s because they spend too much time criticizing the way things are and not enough contributing to positive solutions. It’s time to replace cynicism with kindness and hard work. When we do, I think amazing things will happen.

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3 thoughts on “Serious Truth from a Funny Guy”

I'm totally with you on that one. I think Conan is handling the situation beautifully while maintining his dignity and respect. For once, I think a lot of leaders (church or otherwise) could learn a lesson from watching late-night tv.I think Philippians 2:3-4 is appropriate:"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

I watched the whole week and Conan handled the situation with class and humor. I put the song "Surrender" (one of Conan's fav bumper songs) as a my ringtone to remind me of Conan's gracious, humble character. I want God to continue to work that in me.

I agree with the thought of not being cynical and not staying on someone about their motives. My question is should we not be sure that we, as fellow speakers of God's word, have the right motives and are speaking the truth in all things?I believe there is a need to question some of the motives of others when they openly teach things that are not in agreement with what the Bible says. Not just for the sake of doing it but to be sure that all who are teaching the Gospel are teaching truth.